Social media has emerged as a very effective mode to enhance online education. It is the depot of educative information and the best platform, by using which, the students can communicate with their teachers and friends for solving their problems and getting their academic queries answered immediately. This era of online classes has witnessed the inclusive nature of social media as it provided the grounds for the faculty to connect with their students. An educational institution has to be active on the various social media platforms to promote a proper student culture as well as draft student training strategies.
In fact, the emergence of LMS or Learning Management Systems has proved to be a boon as various kinds of educational programs can now be uploaded using that. Learning through social media in LMS features the presence of discussion forums and chat options where students can express their views and discuss facts. Several educational institutions are already using the LMS integrated with social media to impart education efficiently. By making use of the live video conferencing and webinar features, social media-LMS is aiding the students in simplifying the topics taught to them via online teaching.
A special Facebook page of the class can be created and the students will be asked to follow the page. The teacher may post important class updates, important study materials, and class meet links on that Facebook page. Creating a Facebook group is also beneficial as the students can discuss topics among themselves, in case anyone of them faces any difficulty. The teachers can also be added to such groups, and doubt clearance sessions can be easily done through chat messages in that group. To maintain professionalism, teachers can send the link to the Facebook group to both parents and students via email. Such a way of using Facebook for educative purposes can also be used by the mentors of online courses to ensure proper communication with the students and better management of the online class.
Instagram is the perfect place to read and share ‘photo essays.’ The graphics and pictures can be used enticingly to indulge in virtual storytelling- a realm that no other platform accommodates within its boundaries. Accounts in Instagram can be created separately for each class and these may be deleted later after the session gets over.
Class blogs can be easily created in the available platforms such as Medium, WordPress, Tumblr, BlogPost, etc. Blog posts can be uploaded here and then link these to the social channels where the class has a presence. Blog posts can help the storage of all the vital information together in a single place. Starting from the syllabus, curriculum to study materials, everything can now be uploaded at a central location from where the students can quickly access these.
Teachers may also encourage giving students writing assignments on various subjects that they have in their syllabus, and ask them to upload those in the form of blog posts, In this way, the assignment is not only made interesting but also innovative to a great extent. Students will be drawn to doing the exercise with a great degree of enthusiasm, thus making them participate actively in the class proceedings.
Teachers may create a Pinterest board for the students of each class. This platform can be easily used to upload and organize important messages, lesson plans along with class worksheets, and everything can be kept in a single place, thus helping the students access the materials from just a single place.
Pinterest is also a great platform for compiling references and bibliography digitally. This will help the students in completing their assignments and projects. They can pin websites, or digital books, images, and videos to a specific board and then refer to these sources while working on their assignments.
Social media is one of the best places to have proper interaction and communication with each other. Student-teacher bonding can be greatly enhanced by using social media effectively. With such great availability of features, social media platforms can be cast into an educative mold to facilitate online learning.